Bad Moves Plague The Sox

Reports were whispering like sequoias today of the Mirabelli trade: Bard and Meredith for Mirabelli. Everyone excited for the return of a back up catcher. But, yup, you guessed it – I’m not pleased.

Josh Bard will be a greater catcher than Mirabelli ever was (this coming from someone who said Mirabelli deserved a starting role, and liked Mirabelli better than Varitek). Meredith will be a great relief pitcher. So why trade them for a guy who hasn’t been able to hit? Simply because he can catch Wakefield? Let me ask you this – if we have a gold glove catcher in Varitek – why the heck not let him catch Wakefield and let Bard catch someone else to give Varitek his “desperately needed day off.” (Don’t get me started on this – clearly not many other teams feel the need to pay a guy like V-Tek that much and rest him every fifth day – freaking bogus.)

Mirabelli isn’t going to spark Boston’s offense, nor help their relief pitching, or provide a fifth starter – so why make a move like this? Because it makes fans happy? They gave Bard 4 weeks – 5 starts. A few starts he didn’t do so well, a few he did great – (note he did better than Varitek did with Wakefield last spring…)

The Red Sox DESERVE to lose if they make trades like this: ineffective trades of new, promising talent, ignoring the greater problems of the pitching staff and offense. If they were smart they’d trade for a closer so Papelbon could start… or find a better situation than Seanez and Tavarez out of the pen.

The problems of the Red Sox go beyond a few past balls, and trading to make the fans happy, making a scapegoat of Bard, will not fix that.

So here’s to Bard. Have a great career. I’ll miss you man – remember you always were, and will be, the Killer. Hell, I hope you go deep on the Sox every single time you face them.